Life goes in circles. Sometimes what seems like the end is really just the beginning of something else. And that is how our trip to Norway has felt. Even though today is the beginning of many long goodbyes, I realize that it isn't so much an end to our summer vacation but the beginning of something bigger, that being the beginning of new and re-kindled relationships. When we started our vacation, two-weeks seemed like a long time but now our stay in Norway has come to an end and I am looking back wondering how did it go by so fast! Yet, our hearts are full and we have a lifetime of memories as a result.
We all slept in late Friday morning, our last one in Vågsvåg, as thoughts of our fun-filled evening the night before still pleasingly lingering in our minds. I ate my breakfast quietly while gazing out the window trying to take in the the last views of this quintessential Norwegian fjord scene. In a way, I was glad that it was a bit cloudy today since to look out onto the water and surrounding mountains in full morning sunlight may have been too difficult to turn away from. But the time to pack our bags had come and trying to squeeze everything back into our suitcases was surely going to prove to be a daunting task. However, after some pushing and careful placement of our newly acquired Norwegian novelties (i.e., flags, blankets, books, etc.), everything seemed to be in its place and all of the zippers were zipped. Our bags were ready. Now the much more difficult task was upon us. It was time to say the first of several tearful goodbyes.
Once again we found ourselves gathered around a now familiar table at Lisbeth's home and I realized that this is where it all began....we had a late dinner here the first night we arrived, so it seemed appropriate that this where we'd meet last as well. Life goes in circles. As we handed out some small gifts from Iowa in appreciation of our newly found cousins' gracious hospitality, it was hard trying to hold back our emotions. Somehow, in a very short period of time we had developed a close bond to these Våge cousins and we were going to miss them deeply when we left. I must admit, it did seem a bit uncanny at how each of the gifts we gave came fit each person so well. After wiping away a few tears, we decided it was time to eat again!! Last evening's leftovers were too good to pass up, especially the cream cake, so we feasted on them one more time. Now according to our trip coordinator, Lisbeth, it was time to leave for Måløy in order to get through before the road closed so that we could catch our boat to Florø as we started our journey home! We piled into several vehicles and left Vågsvåg hopefully to return again someday. But for now we had completed our circle of life by seeing the birth homes of Jorgen Mathias Ingebretsen Våge and Christine Erickdatter Kvalheim, Bob's great-grandparents, and I imagined that they were smiling down on us now.
Since we had some time before our boat left we stopped by the nursing home for a couple of short visits with several other Våge cousins. Margot, Magnar's sister whom we had met the day before and whose mother was a half-sister to Jorgen, and then Roald, who's grandfather was a brother to Jorgen. Whew, did you get all that? Genealogy work is fun but it can get a bit confusing too!
Now it was time to board the express boat in Måløy at the same place where Lisbeth, Asbjørn and Terje first met us just a few short days ago. Now to see us off was a whole collection of Våge family members. With long deep hugs and our eyes welled with tears, we slowly said goodbye and promised each other that someday we would meet again. As the boat left the dock we waved our final goodbyes. I had no idea it was going to be this hard to leave. Each of us quietly took our seats on the lower deck as we passed through the fjord. Unlike our journey here when we anxiously stood on the boat deck to catch the first glimpses of Måløy, now it was almost too painful to watch it disappear. Life goes in circles.
We had a short trip to Florø where we were caught our flight to Oslo that evening so that we could make our international flights from Oslo back to America on Saturday! We arrived in Oslo's airport without incident and checked into our hotel next to the airport. Now the Oslo airport is actually located in Jesseim, where Stein and Linda live, so they were waiting patiently waiting for us at the airport. We had a great time visiting with them again over dinner. Stein told us all about his recent bycyling race that he had competed in the weekend before and Linda explained how her daughter Aurora is already counting the days to her seventeenth birthday so she can come and live with us in America just like Stein did! (Bob did promise her, so a promise is a promise and this is one that she'll soon not forget either!) It was getting late and now it was time to say goodbye to Stein and Linda....I had no idea this was going to be so hard either. It had been 23 years ago that we put Stein on an airplane back to Norway. How do you say goodbye again.....I only hope that we can meet again someday soon, or maybe we will meet when Aurora turns seventeen.....Life goes in circles.
We quietly retreated to our hotel room and readied ourselves for our flights home the next day. It was a very short night for Jonathan, Michea and Chris since they had an early 6 am flight to Dallas whereas the rest of us had an afternoon flight back to Minneapolis. So when their alarm went off at 3:30, we groggily got up to see them off. It had been an amazing two-week family vacation that none of us will ever forget and it had been a wonderful time for us to reconnect as well, since life has taken each of our children in different directions. We have begun to cherish the times that we can all together so saying good bye as they left, not knowing when we'd be together next, was bittersweet....This whole series of good-byes was really starting to wear me down!
Now we were down to the last goodbye. Bob, Erik and I boarded our flight home Saturday afternoon and waved our final goodbye to Norway. I loved getting one last look at the fjords and mountains as the plane left Oslo. It had always been Bob's dream to take his family to Norway to see where his great-grandparents Jorgen and Christine Våge came from and now we had accomplished it! We had an amazing journey, saw amazing sights and most of all, met some amazing people that we will never forget. I know that we have been blessed and hopefully through this experience our children now have a deeper knowledge and appreciation of their heritage and in turn will share this story with their children. And I am confident that we will have many more Våge reunions to come. For as you know, life goes in circles!
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